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Amit Shah sets stage for 2022 UP polls, says ‘300+ seats once more’
Union home minister Amit Shah set the tone for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections by coining the slogan “ek baar phir se 300 paar (once more 300+ seats)” and urged the people to re-elect the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power and Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister in Uttar Pradesh
Union home minister Amit Shah set the tone for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections by coining the slogan “ek baar phir se 300 paar (once more 300+ seats)” and urged the people to re-elect the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power and Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister in Uttar Pradesh. Shah was at the launch of the party’s membership drive - ‘mera pariwar, bhajapa pariwar (my family, BJP family)’ in Lucknow on Friday.
Lauding CM Adityanath’s handling of the Covid surge in the state, Shah lashed out at what he described as ‘Akhilesh and company, behenji and Gandhi-Vadra pariwar’ – the three main political players, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress - while seeking people’s blessings for another five years for the party.
“We have done a lot in these five years. But these political parties have left such big holes behind that filling them would require some more time. UP will set the stage for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. I have come here to appeal to you to give another chance to Modi ji and help make Yogi ji chief minister again and that is why we are saying once more go past 300 seats,” Shah said at a well-attended public meeting at Vrindavan’s Sector 17 Colony Defence Expo grounds in Lucknow.
In 2017, the BJP won 312 seats in the UP assembly. Its ally Apna Dal bagged nine seats while former ally Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party managed to win four seats, making it a heady 325 seat win. It was only the third time in the state’s history that a political party crossed the 300-mark in the 403-member assembly.
Twice during his address, Shah, who is expected to visit UP twice in November, urged the people to help make Yogi the chief minister again. Within the party, this reference didn’t go unnoticed with some party leaders taking it as a hint of party leadership’s continued backing of the chief minister. Yogi Adityanath’s continuation, as the chief ministerial candidate ahead of the polls, was subject to much speculation in May-June.
Shah’s address was sprinkled with remarks on the Ayodhya Ram temple and the exodus of Hindus from Kairana in western UP. He said the temple issue got a clear resolution under the leadership of PM Modi. “Kairana palayan se mere khoon kholta tha… par ab palayan karane wale ab palayan kar rahe (my blood boiled at the Kairana exodus.. but those who forced the exodus have now fled themselves)” he said.
“UP is the land of Baba Vishwanath, the birthplace of Lord Ram and Krishna but for the first time since the Mughal rule, the state seems to have got its identity back,” he said.
Hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the ‘man of the series’ for the party’s win in 2017 UP polls, Shah also launched the Modi 11 app, an online platform to help people connect with the party. He said that the membership drive would continue till year-end during which party cadres would be tasked with decorating people’s homes with ‘mera pariwar, bhajapa pariwar’ door hangings.
“I was the UP BJP in-charge during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and then saw the 2017 UP polls as well as the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the BJP chief. Each time, we began by launching the membership drive and so is it this time. Our opponents ask us why we need a membership drive as we already have 1.86 crore members. I would say, unlike them who do politics solely for power, we do it to connect with the masses. This outreach would help us gather feedback that would go into planning our manifesto for 2022 polls,” he said.
“We believe in family planning but we relax this definition when it comes to expanding our BJP family,” he added.
“Governments are not meant for family benefits. They are meant to help the poorest of the poor. We are willing to give an account of our term in power but Akhilesh babu, I surely would like to ask you how much time did you spend in a foreign land, where were you during Covid-19 and floods? These politicians and parties have worked for themselves, their families or at the most, their caste. But, the Modi government has worked for the poorest of the poor, Dalits, tribals, women, backwards,” he said.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, as well as other leaders, hailed Shah as an astute planner and said that the Modi-Shah combination has pitchforked the country into the expressway of progress. Through the day, Shah is set to have a series of crucial meetings including those with Lok Sabha poll in-charges of 2019 Lok Sabha win, former lawmakers and party leaders. Shah is to spend the night at the BJP office in Lucknow.
